CPP

I have been chatting with a lot more baby boomers in the last couple of years, as more clients refer their parents, aunties and uncles to me. A portion of them had already retired and some of them are approaching retirement age. One of the common mistakes I gathered from the seniors I talked to, is kicked in their CPP way too early. You might ask: what do you mean? Don't you start your CPP at age 65? Normally, yes. However, not too many people know that you can actually choose when to kick in your CPP.

Then, the next question arise: why do I want to delay in applying my CPP?

So, it turns out they have made changes recently. We no longer need "Access Key" to get into the site. On the My Service Canada Account page (http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/online/mysca.shtml), you either a first-time user or a returning user, for those who had an access key already, the transition steps are pretty straight forward.

Starting January 1st, 2013, a CPP pensioner who continue to work will be able to start receiving a post-retirement benefit (PRB), which is based on a contribution from the previous year.

PRB is calculated yearly and separately every year till the recipient reaches the age of 70, no further contributions can be made. Like CPP, PRB is payable for the pensioners' lifetime. The good thing is: PRB is not subject to maximum benefit rate ceilings. It can be paid in addition to a maximum retirement pension or maximum combined retirement/survivor benefit.

I have been asked quite a few times in the last 2 weeks regarding how to get information on personal CPP... So I decided to put up a blog post on it :)

Some people might ask, I am nowhere close to retirement, why do I want the information on my CPP? Why do I care? Yes, you do... Retirement planning is a long term strategy, you definitely don't want to look into that until you are 2 years away from your retirement.